Smart meters ...

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  • jpdw
    Automated Home Guru
    • Oct 2007
    • 169

    #16
    A few years ago my elec company offered a smart meter. Interested in the idea of being able to improve on the variability of my currentcost with clamp sensor and maybe better opportunity to integrate with other things I agreed. But like most of you others have posted, was disappointed with it. The remote unit that displayed the usage insisted on cycle through various displays so only getting current usage 20% of the time - the others being things like current cost (which required an electricity rate that didn't match my tariff and that I couldn't change - ie useless). But most annoying was that neither the meter or the remote unit had any way of me getting that data "out" and into some other system.

    Of course, with hindsight, this was probably a design *requirement* of the electricity supplier so I'd be hooked into relying on them for anything that used the data. But could I get a feed from them? Of course not. Whilst they told me they got a daily meter reading (great, I was so happy for them), the most they would give me was a website graph that showed *quarterly* usage. i.e just like they'd get with quarterly readings from an analogue meter.

    I while later I moved supplier - the old one warned me that my new supplier couldn't use my "smart" meter -- so what, I said, I wasn't getting any benefit from it at all. So the mobile modem installed in the meter is no longer used and my current supplier relies on sneaker-net readings along with my ad-hoc web readings.

    The sole benefit I got from the whole thing was that in replacing the old analogue meter with something newer, the "smart" meter has a pulse LED, so I upgraded the currentcost and improved the code in the RaspPi that I use to push the data into a DB & rudimentary graphing of usage. The remote unit supplied with the meter is gathering dust somewhere..... I guess the wallwart might be of use but they probably even spec'd that to be something so esoterically bespoke that it's useless...

    As agree with what someone else posted, the whole smart metre narrative is an utter fiasco - expensive electronics being fitted as part of overall systems that are so poorly designed (in terms of features) that they either don't fulfill potential or just become disused. Lack of standards means that my smart meter doesn't even save the leccy companies the shoe leather. And of course, we, electricity consumers, are all paying for it one way or another. At a premium probably. And it gets 'smart'-this and that a bad name....

    Remembering which forum this thread is in, one thing that I've never yet figured out is whether I can integrate my constant stream of electricity usage with Cortex (which actually is smart in a way the leccy meter isn't).
    Jon

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    • chris_j_hunter
      Automated Home Legend
      • Dec 2007
      • 1713

      #17
      > integrate my constant stream of electricity usage with Cortex ...

      we wired our photosensor (placed over the meter's LED) to a convenient digital input, and Cortex has kept track & plotted graphs ever since ...


      PS: http://www.wordpress-1219309-4387497...ht=pulse+meter
      Last edited by chris_j_hunter; 13 January 2017, 03:17 PM.
      Our self-build - going further with HA...

      Comment

      • jpdw
        Automated Home Guru
        • Oct 2007
        • 169

        #18
        Now I need the gas lot to change out my analgue gas meter for something with a pulse LED (or should such exist, a serial out of some sort....)
        Jon

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        • Paul_B
          Automated Home Legend
          • Jul 2006
          • 608

          #19
          Good luck, measuring gas seems to be a lot more difficult than electricity as most gas meters don't have a pulsing LED or pulse output

          Comment

          • chris_j_hunter
            Automated Home Legend
            • Dec 2007
            • 1713

            #20
            Paul - well done - we also participated in the group buy and, like you, also took a while to install them ...

            but not so long & we've had them working faultlessly for some years, now ...

            of course we wished we'd bought more, so had to choose which of many places to install them - we would change a few if starting again ...

            when we were desperate for more, we found prices prohibitive, but eventually did find some almost the same in Germany, with a brand-name of SwissXYZ (the XYZ indicating that I can't for the life of me recall that part of their name), again those have been working fine - but again wish we'd bought more !

            lesson there, somewhere !
            Last edited by chris_j_hunter; 13 January 2017, 07:41 PM.
            Our self-build - going further with HA...

            Comment

            • Paul_B
              Automated Home Legend
              • Jul 2006
              • 608

              #21
              Thanks Chris and thanks for sharing the information on the other sub-meters. It also took a while to find an electrician that was happy to listen to what I wanted rather than just tell me what I needed.

              Comment

              • chris_j_hunter
                Automated Home Legend
                • Dec 2007
                • 1713

                #22
                yes, electricians into HA are few & far between, hereabouts too ...

                just had a quick look - Amazon are currently selling an XCSource pulse meter for about 9GBP ...

                seems we need to keep an eye out - they come up now & then at affordable prices ...

                maybe if they were more popular, as maybe they are becoming ...

                Chris
                Last edited by chris_j_hunter; 14 January 2017, 12:59 PM.
                Our self-build - going further with HA...

                Comment

                • Karam
                  Automated Home Legend
                  • Mar 2005
                  • 863

                  #23
                  Originally posted by jpdw View Post
                  Now I need the gas lot to change out my analgue gas meter for something with a pulse LED (or should such exist, a serial out of some sort....)
                  This might offer some insights:

                  Last edited by Karam; 19 January 2017, 12:18 AM.

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